Most silver halide elements are coated on to film substrates to form the final product structure. A very large number of these silver halide elements suffer from defects caused by the presence of static which can be generated thereon. The generation of this static is usually caused by film elements sliding across each other or against other elements associated therewith (e.g. camera parts, intensifying screens, processing units, for example). Static defects are particularly onerous when present in a medical X-ray element, for example. Here, a small static discharge might be medically mistaken for a lesion or other suspected fault within the patient, for example, and a misdiagnosis might result. There are a host of prior art references which describe the use of agents useful in reducing or preventing this static buildup. Most of these agents are surfactants and the like. Some of these references describe the use of mixtures of one or more of these surfactants to achieve these beneficial results.
Antistatic agents, when present in a photographic element, may be added to any of the layers used therewith. For example, they may be present in the silver halide emulsion layer or in a backing layer or an overcoat layer. In medical X-ray elements, it is conventional to add these ingredients to the overcoat layer or layers since static is usually a surface generated defect.